MARKETS: TSMC reported stronger-than-expected results

In Asia, the main stock indices were quoted in decline on Friday. In China, the CSI 300, which describes the performance of the most traded shares in Shanghai and Shenzhen, had fallen 0.5 percent, while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng had fallen 0.6 percent. In Japan, the Nikkei had fallen by 0.9 percent.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, TSMC, which dominates the production of the most advanced chips, reported this morning that sales for the last quarter of the year exceeded analysts’ expectations, indicating that demand for artificial intelligence-related hardware continues to be strong.

The company achieved revenue of NT$869 billion, while analysts were expecting revenue of NT$855 billion. The increase from last year is 58 percent.

The rise in sales numbers adds to expectations that the tech giants will continue to expand and upgrade data centers to support the development of artificial intelligence. For example, Microsoft plans to invest 80 billion dollars in data centers during its current fiscal year, reports the news agency Bloomberg.

TSMC plans rapid international expansion as well. The company’s capital expenditures are expected to increase to more than US$30 billion this year. New factories are being planned in Europe to meet the needs of the artificial intelligence market, and construction is underway in Japan, Arizona and Germany.

Morgan Stanley analyst Charlie Chanin however, TSMC’s first-quarter revenue is expected to decrease five percent compared to the previous quarter due to seasonal fluctuations in iPhone sales. However, the company is estimated to grow by around 20 percent this year.

Taiwan’s stock exchange has already closed for Friday, but the ADR share was quoted in the secondary market in the United States down 0.2 percent.

The focus is on the US labor market

Investors will follow the US labor market data to be announced later this evening. At half past four Finnish time, the development of non-agricultural jobs from December is published.

Economists estimate that 165,000 new jobs were created in December, while 227,000 new jobs were created in November.

Earlier this week, we received conflicting signals about the development of the labor market. According to the ADP publication, which describes the development of jobs in the private sector, 122,000 net new jobs were created in the United States in December, while the consensus of economist forecasts collected by the news agency Bloomberg expected 140,000 jobs.

On the other hand, the number of fresh unemployment compensation applications was lower than expected, which indicates that the economy is running in the red despite everything.

Futures forecast a mixed opening for Europe and Wall Street. Euro Stoxx 50 futures were up 0.02 percent, while the S&P 500 was down 0.23 percent.

At 08:04 one euro was worth 1.03 dollars, 163.0 yen, 0.84 pounds and 11.7 Swedish kronor. The dollar was 158.4 yen and the pound was 1.23 dollars.